


A Single Arrow

by RogueLioness



Series: Kiana Trevelyan One Shots [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Freeform, Gen, I blame the dread wolf for this, Not A Happy Ending, One Shot, Post-Trespasser, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 18:39:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7903429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueLioness/pseuds/RogueLioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It can take one small action for the world to come crashing down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Single Arrow

It was but natural that they clashed often, for ever since the day he had finally confessed to the truth of who he was, and what he planned to do, they had become enemies. Unwilling enemies, yes, and each hoped daily the other would sway to the their side, but when they met in battle, it was always on opposite sides.

And they fought, hurling spells at each other, spells meant to disarm, to incapacitate, but never to wound or kill. Neither could bear the thought of causing harm to the other. And so she would cast _statisk burs_ over him, and he would counter with _sove starver_ , and they would try to push the other away from the throes of battle to a safer place on the sides.

It never worked, but it was their routine, and it brought them a measure of peace.

Until the day Kiana managed to unravel the password to his eluvians.

It had been entirely by accident, a stroke of luck as she wandered the Fade. She never stayed too long in one place in the Fade, worried that he would track her down if she did, and stumbled across one isolated wisp of a memory.

Fen’harel, striking down an elf - she had frowned at that - in order to gain control over the eluvians. 

It had been the unknown elf’s memory, but the Fade had captured the scene long after the breath had left his body. She watched as Solas activated the network - smiling faintly as he whispered _Fen’harel enasal_ \- and brought forth his magic to reset it. Her heart lurched as he rested his forehead tiredly against the frame, watched as his lips moved slowly to form… _var lath vir suledin_.

She’d woken up with tears in her eyes.

But she had a job to do, and a world to save. With Morrigan’s help, she changed the password to his network of eluvians, effectively locking him and his people out of it. She had been optimistic, so hopeful that this would buy them some time, would allow her to show him that there was another way to change the world, to help everyone, not just his own people.

She had not counted on his anger.

He was furious, beyond incensed that she had managed to better him. How she had managed to figure out his password he would never know, because he knew for certain the last thing she would think of was what they had told each other the last time they had held each other. He raged at his men, invading their dreams to terrify them into a confession, but he got none, which only made him angrier.

Months of careful planning, weeks of preparation all for naught - because they could not travel with the freedom and rapidity that the eluvians had given them. He did not understand her fondness for the current world, but he was determined not to let her win.

And so, the next time they faced each other in battle, he found himself angry at the sight of her face, enough to do something uncharacteristic.

He plucked a bow out of the grip of one of his dead archers.

He strung an arrow on its taut string.

He pulled back, feeling it quiver with anticipation and energy.

_He took aim at her._

_He let loose the arrow._

He thought she would defend herself against it. Expected it. He’d just wanted to do something, and had hoped the small action of violence would soothe his frustration.

But... 

She stood there, her eyes locked on his and filled with love as the arrow sped towards her heart, making no move to deflect its path, or to defend herself against it.

The world around them slowed, time ticking by at a snail’s pace, every moment sharp and clear as he watched in utmost horror as his arrow pierced through her armor, through her flesh, till it struck her heart.

Struck _his_ heart.

He watched her mouth twist, saw the words tumble from her lips. _Ar lath ma_. Dropping the bow as though it were a poisonous snake, he rushed across the battlefield, even as she stumbled, as her body hit the ground.

All around him, the battle froze, the men and women too shocked to do anything but gape at their leaders.

He reached her side, and saw that she struggled to hold on to life, and knew she was waiting for him. Always, always had waited for him, so patiently, even when he had broken her, even when he had betrayed her, she waited for him.

“Why did you not stop it, _vhenan_ ,” he chided her, tears in his voice and spilling from his eyes. “You have always stopped everything I threw at you.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but instead her lifeblood gurgled up her throat and pooled into her mouth. His heart gave a sickening twist, and he forced a healing spell over her in a desperate bid to keep death away. Cole appeared at her side with a flash, his cries pierced with anguish and despair. “Little mother,” he sobbed, “you cannot leave me,” and Solas could feel the boy’s agony reverbrate through his bones. She turned her eyes slowly towards him, the effort taking too much of her energy, now so limited and so valuable. 

Cole stopped crying, and looked at Solas, his features twisted into a hateful glare. “She wants me to tell you that she couldn’t stop it. _So much anger, vhenan, that you would take up arms against me. How could I deny you what you sought?”_

“I did not mean it,” he sobbed now, his body trembling with the force of his sorrow. “I thought you would deflect it. I thought you would stop it. I never meant for this to happen. Please, _vhenan_ , forgive me. Stay with me.”

Again, Cole voiced her reply. “ _Ma sa’lath, you are forgiven. You have what you want, my dearest one, you have the chance to make this world yours again. It is what you always wanted, was it not? Duty over love, vhenan’ara. We were doomed from the start_.” He gazed down at her, but there was no bitterness in her eyes, no recrimination, only resignation and acceptance. He panicked. “No, Kiana! You cannot leave me. You have to stay with me! Please, I beg you, _emma lath_ , don’t leave me alone in this world, I cannot bear the thought.”

It felt strange to hear her words through Cole’s voice. “ _Alas, ma’fen, I cannot. I would if I could. Take the world, Fen’harel, and shape it as you will. But please… be kind..._ ” Cole’s voiced trailed off, and he knew why as her eyes clouded over, and the desperate thrums of her heart ceased.

He threw his head back and howled, his sorrow calling out to nature itself, who answered with a deluge of rain. He gathered up his heart in his hands, sobbing over her body that had turned stiff and cold, and cursed himself in a thousand different ways. He barely paid any attention at all to her companions, her friends who stood around, shock and horror and despair and grief running amok through them.

It was Dorian who spoke. “It seems you’ve finally won, Dread Wolf,” the mage from Tevinter spat out. “If you would kindly let go of her so we can…" his voice broke, and he buried his head into Bull’s chest, his body heaving with sobs. Varric knelt, and tried to take Kiana away from him, but Solas’ lips peeled back to expose his teeth, and he growled and snarled warningly at them, before pulling her into his arms and walking away.

He ignored his men, ignored hers. Nothing mattered now, not his people, not this world, nothing, not when he had not a thing left in this world, or the one he had hoped to bring about. She would not be there. She would never be there, and he would never again see her smile at him, never feel the press of her lips against his, never see her eyes flash a dozen different emotions at him.

Everything they had been through, everything she had worked for, all the times he had tried to bring her down, the times she had tried to stop him… everything came to an end with a single arrow.

It still baffled him. That it had taken a single arrow, a single, measly arrow, an arrow that came from a flimsy bow, that bore no runes or enchantment… that she, with all her vast power and magic, had fallen on account of a _single arrow_.

Because he had fired it.

She _let_ him kill her, because she thought he had wanted it.

_Because a part of him **had** wanted it._

The Dread Wolf was alone once more, and he had no one to blame but himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Finished Trespasser. This is the result.
> 
> Dammit, Solas.


End file.
